MasukEthan edged back, hands raised, his voice thin with fear. “Put the knife down, Emily. We shouldn’t hurt ourselves over nothing.”Emily barked out a laugh—sharp, unhinged—and tilted her head, eyes glittering with a fierce, brittle intensity. “If you dare leave me, I’ll make sure we both get hurt. Don’t you ever leave me.”“I won’t,” Ethan said quickly. “I’ll never leave you. Nothing will make me. Just—please—put the knife down.”She lifted the blade again. He flinched. Her laugh softened into an eerie giggle.“Are you afraid of dying?” she asked, lips curling as if at a private joke.Ethan clenched his jaw, sweat bleeding through his hairline despite the cold air humming from the vent. He angled himself closer to the door. “Don’t do this, Emily. I’m begging you.”She widened her eyes in a mimicry of surprise, then drifted toward the window. The blade hovered near her neck. “Should I kill myself so you can run to her?”Color drained from Ethan’s face. “Don’t. Please—don’t.”She gripped
Alicia looked at Ethan with a blank expression, then let out a cold sneer. “Stop showing up at my office unannounced and being a nuisance. Leave.”But Ethan didn’t move. He stayed on his knees.“Please, have mercy on us, Alicia,” he pleaded. “I know what we did was evil—especially how we treated your parents. Please, find a place in your heart to forgive us. I’m begging you.”Alicia chuckled instead of answering. She stared at him, expressionless, then walked to her chair and sat down.Ethan remained kneeling. Regret washed over his face—green with shame. He regretted everything: sending Alicia away, standing by while Emily murdered her siblings, and letting her make Alicia’s parents’ lives a living hell.“I don’t want you to stop punishing me or Emily,” he said, voice tight with anxiety. “All I want is your forgiveness—and for you to never regret loving me.”Alicia acted as though she hadn’t heard a word. She kept writing, flipping through documents, signing page after page.“I will
To her shock, her father said, “If that’s why you’re here, leave. My mind is made up. I’m not taking you back.”He turned and went inside without a backward glance. Emily stood there, tears streaming freely down her face.Ethan stepped forward. “My wife, let’s go home. There’s no point kneeling here—no one will accept you back.”Emily reached for him without a word. He helped her to her feet, lifted her gently, and settled her into the car. Then he got behind the wheel and drove off.He circled the city for a while before stopping at an apartment he’d already inquired about. But when he spoke to the landlord, he was told, “Sir, I can’t rent to an unemployed couple.”Ethan’s frown deepened. He decided to show the landlord his account balances, but when he checked his three accounts, they were all frozen. His face went pale; his hands trembled.Standing beside him, Emily said coldly, “If you don’t have the money, let’s leave. Stop wasting our time.” She turned and went back to the car.
After Winnie left the room, Beatrice quietly made a call. Her whole body stiffened as she pressed the phone to her left ear, her face creased with fear."Why did you call?" a deep, menacing voice demanded from the other end.Beatrice hesitated before softly replying, "I want to find out who is behind Andy."There was a long silence—an entire minute—before the voice from the phone warned her, "Stay away from them—for now."Then, the line went dead with a series of beeping sounds.Beatrice furrowed her brows, unsettled. She hadn’t expected the caller to advise her to steer clear of Catherine and Andy, especially while she was still contemplating the matter seriously.Suddenly, there was a knock at her door. Beatrice quickly set down her phone and sat on the bed, taking a deep breath to steady herself."Come in," she called calmly.The door swung open, and Alexander stepped inside, his gaze fixed on her with cold intensity.Beatrice met his stare without flinching, her expression remaini
When Alicia heard Andy’s reply, her lips curled into a smile and her heart settled completely.His words silenced the critics.From a few meters away, Ethan watched, fists clenched—he had heard Andy too.Andy wheeled forward, looked up at Alicia, and said, “My wife, let’s go home.”“Okay, hubby,” Alicia answered, smiling.He turned to the press team Emily had brought and, in a cool, expressionless tone, said, “Anyone who writes something ugly about my wife—I won’t spare them.”Then he left with Alicia. Only after their car disappeared did Emily snap out of her daze. She opened her mouth to speak, but before a single word escaped, the press team scrambled into their van and sped off.Left alone, Emily watched the taillights fade and the press van vanish. She clenched her fists, a wave of sadness and frustration washing over her.Ethan, observing from a distance, wore a complicated expression. He truly pitied his wife.“All of you are a bunch of bullies—every one of you!” Emily screamed
Ethan lowered his head, guilt washing over him. Then he remembered he had visited Alicia’s office earlier to beg her to talk to her husband, hoping he would call off the attacks.He lifted his head, eyes bright with sudden hope. “There’s no need to be afraid. We’re going to recover everything. I already spoke to Alicia—she promised to speak to Andy. I’m confident he’ll back off once she does. We don’t need to worry about any of this. We should be thinking about how we’ll rebuild when it’s all over.”Emily stared at him, incredulous, wondering if he was an idiot or just willfully blind.She sneered. “Let’s pretend Andy’s wife is your ex-wife. Now imagine this: you sent her to rot in prison, you destroyed her parents—her father is bedridden—and two of her siblings are dead because of us. Tell me, Ethan, would you forgive that so easily?”Ethan froze, stunned. He had treated the situation far too casually. Because Alicia never yelled or lost control around him—because she had never acted







